Surgical sling



M. M. TEARE SURGICAL SLIN'G Jan. 30, 1951 Filed May 29 W T N w m Patented Jan. 30, 1951 UNITED STATES SURGICAL SLING Margaret Matheson Teare, Buffalo, N. Y.

Application May 29, 1945, Serial No. 596,561

This invention relates to surgical arm slings or supports of the kind employed in cases of fractures or dislocations of the shoulder, collar bone or arm.

Despite various proposals of special arm slings or supports no practical substitute has replaced the long conventional arm sling which consists merely of a triangular cloth or bandage which gives inadequate support to the forearm and is subject to many other objections, particularly as concerns the convenience of the patient in applying or adjusting the sling. The failure of any of the various substitutes to find any considerable degree of adoption or use in itself testifies to their inadequacy and impracticality.

I have devised an arm sling which meets the most important requirement of a satisfactory device of this character, namely, the comfort of the user, by reason of the fact that his arm is supported in a wholly natural position with complete support at all points where support is required to result in order to produce complete comfort. It will be noted particularly that my improved arm sling provides adequate support for the users elbow and wrist, thus providing complete support throughout the length of the forearm,

Further, the arm sling of my invention is so arranged that it can easily be put on or taken off by the user without assistance and can like- Wise be adjusted properly to the users needs without assstance. The arrangement, moreover, is such that the arm sling will remain in proper adjustment, both as to size and position with respect to the arm and body, during periods of use.

In constructing the arm sling of my invention consideration is given to the relative degrees of yieldability' of woven fabrics when pulled on the bias and when pulled in the direction of the threads, so that the resultant sling is neither too flexible nor too inflexible but has just the right degree of resilience without failing to afford sufficie'nt support to the arm.

In addition to the foregoing, the arm sling of my invention is simple to manufacture, and its arrangement is such that each size may be used throughout a considerable range of body and arm dimensions, so that a very few difierent sizes will cover all normal requirements.

It is to be understood that the scope of the present invention is limited only as defined in the appended claims and that, within such limits, various changes and modifications may be made in the specific arm sling which is illustrated in 5 Claims. (Cl. 128-494) 2 the accompanying drawing and described in detain in the following specification by Way of example.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of one form of the arm sling of my invention lying open and flat- W1se;

Fig. Zshows the arm sling of Fig. l in position of use upon a wearer;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional View of the edge of the device of Fig. 1 taken at either of the lines III-III of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the edge of the device of Fig. 1 taken along any of the lines IV-IV of Fig. 1.

Throughout the drawing like characters of reference denote like parts. The construction of the arm slin shown in the drawing can best be described by describing the way in which it is made. Two substantially identical blanks, an outer one designated is and an inner one designated ii, are employed. The outline of Fig. 1 is a faithful scale reduction facsimile of the flat shape of the present arm sling and the sling itself may be made by merely enlarging that outline accurately to the required size. The outline shown is important since any material departure therefrom will to some degree sacrifice the ideal support and comfort of the device, Each of these blanks is of the shape of the outline of Fig; 1 plus enough additional marginal material for seams and hems.

The edges of the two blanks or panels l0 and I l are connected to each other by inturned seams l2, as shown in i, at all edges of the blanks excepting only those portions included in the brackets designated l3 and M, which portions 7 are merely separately hemmed as shown in detail in Fig. 3. The opening i3 thus provides for entry of the upper arm of the user into the sling and the opening M permits his hand to extend from the sl'ng as shown in Fig. 2.

The reduced upper extension of the joined blanks or panels comprises a securing strap portion it which is adjustably secured into a buckle or other fastener H, which in the form illustrated is associated with the device by means of a cloth loop E3, the ends of which are sewed into seam E2 of the blanks l6 and I l at a point just above the opening M. The manner in which the upper portion of the assembled sling passes about the neck and shoulders of a user appears clearly in Fig. 2.

Since the blanks Ii! and II are initially identical and they are joined in a manner which leaves them fully reversible and interchangeable, a given sling may be used with equal facility and eflicacy for supporting either the right or the left arm of a user.

The lines at A on Fig. 1 indicate the direction of extent of the warp and weft threads of the fabric. This is an important feature in the construction of the present arm sling, since the manner in which the Weave extends, with respect to the blanks, gives just the right compromise between too much and too little resilience.

The shade lines on Fig. 1 fragmentarily illustrate the direction of extent of the threads. The material used in the actual reduction to practice of the present invention is a good quality unbleached muslin although other materials having comparable physical properties may be. found suitable. It will be noted that the blanks are cut generally on the bias. However, the seams at opposite sides of the strap portion I 6 and extending downwardly to the openings l3 and I partly counteract the normal yieldability of the fabric on the bias and the device as a Whole, as a joint result of the dis osition of the fabric in cutting the blanks and the proportioning and construction of the device, is found to possess just the right qualities, from the standpoint of both firm su port and a desired moderate degree of yieldability.

What is claimed is:

l. A surgical arm sl ng comprising a pair of opposed substant ally identical fabric panels. each panel comprising a base portion having an angular bottom corner at one e d and an u wardly curving convex edge at the other end, each panel having a concave edge extending inwardly and upwardly from the upper end of said upwardly curving convex edge, each panel having an edge extending upwardly from said corner and cooperating with said concave curving edge to form an upwardly exten ing continuous strap-like extension of each panel, said panels being secured to each other a ong their bottom edges and the upwardly curv ng convex edges at said other end to form an elbow supporting pocket, said panels being dis oined along the lower port ons of their concave curving edges sufficiently to freely ac commodate a users upper arm there between, said a els being dis oined along their upwardly extending edges at sa d one end to permit emergence of a users hand therebetween, said panels being secured to each other continuous y along their edge portions upwardly of sa d two dis oined portions to form an upper strap-like extension. a strap receiving fastener secured to said panels immediately above the dis oined hand-receiv ng edge portions. and said upper strap-like extension being of sufiicient length to pass about the neck and shoulder of a user and have its end engaged with said fastener in position of use.

2. A surgical arm sling comprising a pair of op osed substantially identical fabric panels, each panel comprising a base portion having an angular bottom corner at one end and an upwardly curving convex edge at the other end, each 'panel having an edge extending inwardly and upwardly from the upper end of said convex upwardly curving edge, each panel having an edge extending generally upwardly from said corner and cooperating with said inwardly and upwardly extending edge to form an upwardly extending continuous strap-like extension of each panel,

said panels being secured to each other along their bottom edges and the upwardly curving convex edges at said other end to form an elbow supporting pocket, said panels being disjoined along the lower portions of their inwardly and upwardly extending edges sufficiently to freely accommodate a users upper arm therebetween, said panels being disjoined along their upwardly extending edges at said one end to permit emergence of a users hand therebetween, said panels being secured to each other continuously along their edge portions upwardly of said two disjoined portions to form an upper strap-like extension, a strap receiving fastener secured to said panels immediately above the disjoined hand-receiving edge portions, and said upper strap-like extension being of suflicient length to pass about the neck and shoulders of a user and have its end engaged with said fastener in position of use.

3. A surgical arm sling comprising a pair of opposed substantially identical fabric panels, each panel comprising a base portion having an angular bottom corner at one end and an upwardly curving convex edge at the other end, each panel having a concave curving edge extending inwardly and upwardly from the upper end of said upwardly curving convex edge, each panel having an edge extending upwardly from said. corner and cooperating with said concave curving edge to form an upward extension of each panel, said panels being secured to each other along their bottom edges and the upwardly curv-- ing convex edges at said other end to form an elbow supporting pocket, said panels being dis-- joined along the lower portions of their concave curving edges sufiiciently to freely accommodate a users upper arm therebetween, said panels being disjoined along their upwardly extending edges at said one end to permit emergence of a users hand therebetween, said panels being secured to each other along their opposite edge portions upwardly of said two disjoined portions, a strap receiving fastener secured to said panels immediately above the disjoined hand-receiving edge portions, and an upper strap portion extending from said panels and being of sufficient length to pass about the neck and shoulders of a user and have its end engaged with said fastener in position of use.

4. A surgical arm sling comprising a pair of opposed substantially identical fabric panels, each panel comprising a base portion having an angular bottom corner at one end and an upwardly curving convex edge at the other end, each panel having an edge extending inwardly and upwardly from the upper end of said upwardly curving convex edge, each panel having an edge extending upwardly from said corner and cooperating with said inwardly and upwardly extending edge to form an upwardly extending continuous strap-like extension of each panel, said panels being secured to each other along their bottom edges and the upwardly curving convex edges at said other end to form an elbow supporting pocket, said panels being disjoined along the lower portions of their inwardly and upwardly extending edges sufiiciently to freely accommodate a users upper arm therebetween, said panels being disjoined along their upwardly extending edges at said one end to permit emergence of a users hand therebetween, said panels being secured to each other continuously along their edge portions upwardly of said two disjoined portions to form an upper strap-like extension following a line generally at right angles to the bottom of the base portion adjacent to the end thereof having the angular bottom corner, a strap receiving fastener secured to said panels immediately above the disjoined hand-receiving edge portions, and said upper strap extension being of sufficient length to pass about the neck and shoulders of a user and have its end engaged with said fastener in position of use.

5. A surgical arm sling comprising a pair of opposed substantially identical woven fabric panels, each panel comprising a base portion having an angular bottom corner at one end and an upwardly curving convex edge at the other end, each panelhaving an edge extending inwardly and upwardly from the upper end of said upwardly curving convex edge, each panel having an edge extending upwardly from said corner and cooperating with said inwardly and upwardly extending edge to form an upwardly extending continuous strap-like extension of each panel, said panels being secured to each other along their bottom' edges and the upwardly curving convex edges at said other end to form an elbow supporting pocket, said panels being disjoined along the lower portions of their inwardly and upwardly extending edges sufllciently to freely accommodate a users upper arm therebetween, said panels being disjoined along their upwardly extending edges at said one end to permit emergence of a users hand therebetween, said panels being se- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the lfile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS- .Number Name Date 883,004 Dingman Mar. 24, 1908 980,464 Wermuth Jan. 3, 1911 2,088,927 Roy Aug. 3, 1937 2,111,963 Coombs Mar. 22, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS ,fNumber Country Date 103,083 Great Britain Jan. 11, 1917 

